Word game apparatus comprising game boards, game pieces and a rack therefor



1965 F J. LISSANDRELLO 3,165,318

WORD GAME APPARATUS COMPRISING GAME BOARDS, GAME PIEcEs, AND RACKTHEREFOR Filed May 17, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet l VIA F IQ INVENTOR Fkebemc n3. AN DRELLO J n- 1965 F. J. LISSANDRELLO 3,165,318

WORD GAME APPARATUS COMPRISING GAME BOARDS, GAME PIECES, AND RACKTHEREFOR Filed May 17, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

F'zeuamcs: I LISSANDRELLO HTTOQNE VS United States Patent WORD GAMEAPPARATUS COMPRISING GAME BOARDS, GAME PIECES AND A RACK THERE- FORFrederick J. Lissandreilo, Eon 13423, RE. 1, Catskill, NY. Filed May 17,1963, Ser. No. 281,184 2 Claims. (Cl. 273148) This invention relates tothe general field of educational and amusement devices and morespecifically, the instant invention pertains to a competitive gameinvolving word construction.

One of the primary objects of this invention is to provide gameapparatus for use by a plurality of competitors in the formulation orspelling of words through the use of letter game pieces provided bychance to each competitor or player.

Another object of this invention is to provide a unique letter gamepiece rack to afford means for the collective stacking of the gamepieces.

A further object of this invention is to provide a plurality of gameboards, each game board being divided into a plurality of compartmentsof such size as to receive therein a single game piece.

Still another object of this invention is to provide game boards of thetype described generally above, together with means to support the sameat an inclined angle relative to a horizontal supporting means.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a game piecerack together with means permitting the stacking of the game boardstherein when the latter are not in active use.

Still further, this invention has as an object thereof, the provision ofcompartmental game boards and a pinrality of playing pieces havingalphabetical indicia disposed thereon, the pieces being adapted forpositioning on the board in such order as to spell out various words.

This invention has, as still another object thereof, the provision ofgame apparatus of the type described which will provide education andamusement for both children and adults.

This invention contemplates, as a still further object thereof, theprovision of game apparatus of the type described, the apparatus beingnon-complex in construction and assembly, inexpensive to manufacture andmaintain, and which is durable in use.

Other and further objects of this invention will become more manifestfrom a consideration of the following specification when read inconjunction with the annexed drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a game piece rack and a game boardstacking device, including, in perspective, a plurality of game boardsand game pieces positioned for active play, all in accordance with thisinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the game piece rack and of the game pieceboards as stacked therein;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse detail, cross-sectional view,

FIGURE 3 being taken substantially on the horizontal plane of line 33 ofFIGURE 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a detail cross-sectional view, FIGURE 4 being takensubstantially on the vertical plane of line 4-4 of FIGURE 1, looking inthe direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a front perspective view of a game board together withcertain game pieces disposed thereon; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of one of the game pieces.

Reference numeral 10 designates, in general, game apparatus constructedin accordance with the teachings of ice this invention. The game pieceand game board rack 10 is seen to comprise a substantially rectangularbase plate 12 having a centrally-located substantially rectangularopening 14 formed therein. The base plate 12 may be formed of plasticmaterial or any other suitable material, as desired.

Projecting laterally and upwardly from the base plate 12 are a pluralityof upright side walls 16, 18, 2t) and 22 having a substantiallyrectangular configuration. As is seen in FIGURES l, 2 and 3, the sidewalls 16, 13, 2t) and 22 are substantially perpendicular to the baseplate 12 and the adjacent ends of the side walls are preferablyintegrally connected therewith. Each adjacent pair of ends of the sideWalls are also integrally connected and are disposed at right angleswith respect to one another. As is shown, side walls 15, 18, 20 and 22form a continuous panel designated, in general, by reference numeral 24.

Projecting laterally from each side wall 16, 18, 2d and 22;,respectively, are a plurality of T-shaped dividers 26 that are integraltherewith and with the base plate 12 from which they laterally andupwardly project, and which are also integral therewith. Each of thedividers 26 includes a substantially rectangular stem 28 to the outeredge of which is integrally connected a crosshead 30. The crossheads 3t)are also of rectangular configuration.

The stems 28 on each side Wall 16, 18, 2t) and 22 are parallel to oneanother, and the crossheads 30 thereof are perpendicular to the stems 28and are aligned with one another in longitudinally-spaced relation.

Each of the side walls 16, 18, 20 and 22, at their longitudinally-spacedopposed ends, is integrally connected with a substantially L-shapedretainer plate 31 that is also integral with the base plate 12 at thelower end thereof from which it upwardly projects. Each retainer plate31 includes an upright substantially rectangular leg portion 32 which isparallel to the immediately adjacent stem 28, and a foot portion 34extends toward and is aligned with the immediately adjacent crosshead30.

Each adjacent pair of dividers 26 and each adjacent divider 26 andretainer plate 31 form therebetween conipartments 36 having open frontfaces and upper ends, and each compartment 36 serves as a rack for oneor more playing or game pieces 38.

Each of the playing or game pieces 38 is substantially rectangular inconfiguration and has imprinted, embossed, or otherwise afiixed to oneoropposite sides thereof, alphabetical characters, as is indicated byreference numeral 49. Preferably, but not necessarily, the samealphabetical character is carried on the opposed sides of each playingpiece 38.

It will be noted that twenty-eight compartments 36 have been provided onthe game board, and in each of the compartments 36, respectively, isstacked sixteen playing or game pieces 38 with the game pieces 38 ineach rack hav ing imprinted thereon one of the twenty-six letters of thealphabet. This utilizes twenty-six of the compartments 36. One of theremaining of the compartments 36 has stacked or racked therein anotherset of sixteen playing or game pieces 38 having only the letter Athereon, and the last of the compartments 36 has stacked or rackedtherein sixteen of the playing or games pieces 38 having the letter Ethereon. Thus, there is provided a total of four-hundred-forty-eightplaying or game pieces 38 of which thirty-two carry the letter A and thesame num ber bear the letter E.

The apparatus 10 includes a plurality of substantially hollowrectangular game boards 42 formed of a plastic or of other desirablematerials, each of the game boards 42 comprising a substantiallyrectangular base wall 44 which has one side (back side) provided with aninwardly-extending, substantially hollow rectangular pocket 4-6 definedby a first pair of oppositely-disposed spaced area-31s lel legs 66*, 52which terminate at their respective upper ends in diverging aligned arms64, as. The arms s4, 66 are received for pivotal movement withinsubstantially hollow and oppositely-disposed pockets 6%, 7% (see FIGURE2) formed in the side walls 43, 59 adjacent the upper side wall 52. Thebights 53 normally rest upon a playing support surface '72 such as, forexample, a card table (not shown) when the standards 55 have beenwithdrawn from their respective pockets 4s and the boards 42 aredisposed in playing position in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 1.

Each of the playing boards 42 has provided on reverse or front sidethereof a continuous integrallyformed. peripheral flange 74, and thefront side of th base wall .4 is also provided with a plurality oflaterallyprojecting, intersecting, horizontal and vertical dividerstrips '76, 73 having a substantially rectangular configuration andwhich are integrally connected with one another at right angles withrespect to each other to provide a plurality of substantiallyrectangular compartments designated, in general, by reference numeral81), having such dimensions as to loosely receive one of the rectangularplaying or game pieces 35 therein with the alpha betical charactersthereof facing outwardly.

As is shown in FIGURES l and 5, the game board 42;,

through its dividers 76, 73 is partitioned into a plurality ofhorizontal and vertical rows of six of the compartments Gil giving rise,in checkerboard fashion to a total of th' ty-six playing compartments3%. For purposes to be described, the outer edge of the flange 74 whichextends downwardly from the upper left-hand corner of the game board 42as viewed in FIGURES land 5 is colored for 21 length of five of thecompartments 8'9, the colored edge being designated atWlA. Thehorizontal divider strip MA has its outer edge also colored and extendshorizontally acrossfive of the compartments 8% The vertical dividerstrip 78A also spans five of the com-.

,partrnents 8t and the horizontal portion of the flange 74- at the upperend of theleft-hand portion thereof is also colored as denoted at 748and extends horizontally across ifive of the compartments 89, Thus, itis seen that the colored portions of the flange Maud of the dividerstrips 75, 73 encompass and outline a playing board having a total oftwenty-five of the compartments 8%.

When the game boards 42 are not in use, the standards 56 thereof arepivoted into their respective pockets 4-6 and the game boards are theninserted within'the cavity 82 (see FIGURE 1) defined by the continuouspanel 24 and the base plate 12 with the front faces of the playingboards 42 preferably facing downwardly.

The game apparatus lit, when set up in playing positions, as shown inFIGURE 1, contemplates competition between three competitors, but thegame may, be played with from two to five players. The object of thegame is to spell out as many words horizontally and vertically aspossible through. the judicious placement of three or more successiveones of the playing or game piecesread ing from left to right, or top tobottom, as viewed in FIGURES 1 and 5. One of the game boards shown inFIGURE 1 illustrates the arrangement of playing or game pieces 38 in'thehorizontal and vertical rows of compartments dd embraced within thesquare bounded by the colored edges 74A, 74B, 76A and 78A, or,optionally, there is also shown in FIGURE 1 a game board 42 havingplaying or game pieces 38 arranged in horia zontal and verticalcompartments bounded by the flange 64 and which, in the arrangementshown, spell two siziletter words. Under either system of play, toscore, a player attempts to arrange his playing or game pieces 33 insuch manner that three consecutive letters in each horizontal orvertical'row of compartments 8% form a word, and subsequent game orplaying pieces 38 may b added thereto in successive plays to form wordshaving four, five, or six letters therein,all depending upon theselected game.

Thus, in a five-letter game, as illustrated at the lefthand side ofFIGURE 1, the first three horizontal lines reading from top to bottomspell the words THIRD, RADIO, and AVIEW, and the final horizontal linereads KNOLL. The term ,CENEE doesnot form a known word and hence, cannotbescorechper se, but since it includes the consecutive letters NEEfitmay be scored as a three-letter word. i a

Reading downwardly and frornleft tolright, it is seen that this gameboard is arranged to spell out the words TRACK, HAVEN, andFBSWELJ Theexpressions IDINO and REBEL- do not form known words consisting of fiveletters and'hence, cannot be: scored. However, since the second, thirdand fourth; letters of the expression IDING form the three letter wordDIN, this word may be scored. As will be seen, the final three lettersof the expression Rll-EEL?" form the known three-letter word BEL, and assuchymay also be scored. f T

Also shown in FIGURE )1 is a game board42 set up for six-lettercompetition. As illustratedtherein, the upper horizontal row ofcompartments are provided with playing or game pieces 33 so arrangedanddisposed as to spell the word STROLL, and the pieces 38 disposed inthe vertical compartments St? at the'left-hand side of the game board'dfi'spcll the six-letter word SIRING.

To play the'instant game; andassuming that'thegarnc racks and boardshave been set up on a suitable support surface 72 in the mannerillustrated in FIGURE 1 with all of the playingor game pieces disposedin-their respective compartments :36, preferably, a plurality of thegame pieces 33 being arrangedin each of the game racks or compartmentsile and having but'a single alphabetical character, a first player willremove a plurality of game or playing pieces 33. Assuming that fourcompetitors are engaged in playing the-game, each'playe-r, insuccession, will select founiden'tical alphabeticalrcharacters orplaying pieces 38 *fronrtheir respective racks 36 and will keep one,while passing the others, singly, to his opponents. Each player then, inturn Willplace the dealt playingor game pieces 38 arbitrarily in aselected one of the compartments fall, Al llfil the piece has beendisposed within one of the compartments so, the position thereof cannotbe changed in subsequent plays. The playing or; game pieces 38 arecontinued to be dealt by each player in turn until, it the five-lettergame is being played, each player has received and placed inthecornpartments so of the game board 42 as bounded by the coloredboundary'strips, twenty-five of the, gameaorplay ing pieces 38. If thegame is to be that of'the, six-letter type, then of course, each playerwill-bedealtthirty-six separate pieces. a

When all of the compartments lit} for the five or sixletter'gameshavebeen filled withthe gamepieces 38 by each player, the'points accruedvbyeach player are scored-as follows: 7 y r l a 1 V In the five-letter wordgame each word; of five letters is scored '10 points. Each four-letterword scores 5 points, and each three-letterword is valued at 3 points.Thus, andtreferring to'the game board asshown in FIG- URE 1 setup forthefive-lettenword game, the word THIRD gives the player 10 points, asdo; the word RADIO, and fKNOLLF the word AVIEW scores 5 points, and theword CENEE is rated at, 3 points.

T 16 6 e he words whic, appear when the game bomd For the word TRACK hewill score 10 points, as he will for the words HAVEN and DOWEL. For theword DIN in the expression IDINO, and EEL in the expression RIEEL, hescores 3 points each. Thus, the player has scored a total of 74 points.

i A little different scoring is employed when playing the six-lettergame. Since it is a little more difficult to conceive of six-letterwords, and taking into consideration the fact that the playing or gamepieces 38 are arbitrarily placed on the game boards 42 as the same aredealt to the individual players, each six-letter word is given a scorevalue of 20 points. Thus, referring to FIGURE 1, the board set up forthe six-letter word contest spells, horizontally, the Word STROLL andvertically, the word SPRING. The fortuitous placement of these lettersas dealt to the player has enabled this player,

base plate having a central opening formed therein and a continuouspanel projecting laterally from a side thereof and cooperating with saidbase plate to form a cavity,

a plurality of substantially rectangular game boards I of said cavity, aplurality of' spaced divider means proin eleven plays, to score a totalof 40 points, each sixthe five-letter Word game or the six-letter wordgame has been completed, the game or playing pieces are emptied from theplaying boards 42 and each letter is returned to its respectivecompartment in the rack.

A complete game is composed of rounds. A round has been defined above,and there must be, in each game, at least one or more roundscorresponding to the number of players. -Thus, if there are twoopponents, the

game will include two rounds, or more, with three players, threerounds-or more, with four players, four rounds or more, and with fiveplayers, five rounds or more.

This system enables each player to be the first in dealing out theletters and totbe the first in play. To play first has a definiteadvantage because in all cases the first player will get one'more playthan the others, except when there are five players.

When all of the rounds have been played, all scores are totaled, and thewinner is decided. Thus, one player who may lag behind in the earlierrounds, may be the eventual ,WiHIlI if he finishes strong. 1

Having described and illustrated one embodiment of this invention indetail, it will be understood that the same is offered merelyby'way ofexample, and that this 1. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a

jecting laterally from said panel and away from said cavityandupwardly'from said base plate, said divider 1 means cooperating withsaid panel and said base plate of constantly abutting said panel andsaid divider means.

2. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a game .piece and gameboard rack, said game board rack including a normally horizontalsubstantially rectangular base plate having a central opening formedtherein and a continuous panel projecting from a side thereof to form asubstantially rectangular cavity, a plurality of sub stantiallyrectangular game boards stacked Within said cavity, said game boardseach having dimensions substantially equal to the length and width ofsaid cavity, a plurality of spaced divider means projecting laterallyfrom said panel in a direction away from said cavity and upwardly fromsaid base plate, said dividers, said panel and'said base plate formingaplurality of substantially rectangular game piece-receiving compartmentshaving v of said compartments.

game piece and game board rack, said game board rack including anormally horizontal substantially rectangular open upper ends andopening toward the outer periphcry of said base plate, each of saiddivider means comprising a substantially rectangular panel extendingfrom said base plateto substantially the upper peripheral edge of'saidpanel and from said panel to the outer peripheral edge of said baseplate, a substantially rectangular crosshead fixedly secured to theouter edge of each of said divider panels and saidbase plate, each ofsaid crossheads extending partially across each of the open sides of apair of adjacent compartments and a plurality of playing pieces eachhaving a substantially rectangular configuration and stacked 'in saidcompartments intaceto-face relation, said playing pieces havingsubstantially the same length and width as corresponding dimensionsReferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 28,733Brooks Julieta, 1860 3,073,601 .Baillo' Jan. 1s, 1963 I DELBERT B. LOWE,Primary Examiner.

1. A GAME APPARATUS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A GAME PIECE AND GAMEBOARD RACK, SAID GAME BOARD RACK INCLUDING A NORMALLY HORIZONTALSUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR BASE PLATE HAVING A CENTRAL OPENING FORMEDTHEREIN AND A CONTINUOUS PANEL PROJECTING LATERALLY FROM A SIDE THEREOFAND COOPERATING WITH SAID BASE PLATE TO FORM A CAVITY, A PLURALITY OFSUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR GAME BOARDS STACKED WITHIN SAID CAVITY, SAIDGAME BOARDS BEING SUPPORTED ON SAID BASE PLATE, SAID GAME BOARDS EACHHAVING DIMENSIONS SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE LENGTH AND WIDTH OF SAIDCAVITY, A PLURALITY OF SPACED DIVIDER MEANS PROJECTING LATERALLY FROMSAID PANEL AND AWAY FROM SAID CAVITY AND UPWARDLY FROM SAID BASE PLATE,SAID DIVIDER MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID PANEL AND SAID BASE PLATE TOFORM A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR GAME